Avatar: The Last Cycle
Lan
The sun rose slowly on the city of Ozai, it's feeble early light only barely piercing thru the thick clouds of smoke that rose like pillars from the riverside factories. Even as it reached the height where it's light changed from red to clear white, little penetrated thru the mass of tall towers that loomed fifty and sixty stories above the pavement. The streets were always in shadow, and as the day stretched on and the shadows shifted, those that lived in the shadows skulked along with them.
Lan, a young boy of thirteen, was now one of them. He was sitting on an empty fire escape, two stories over with a view of the station below. As he watched, a diesel powered train appeared out of the mist, it's horn howling ominously, and came to a reluctant stop in front of the platform. Hundreds of people, dressed in traditional changshan and qipao, or in the new sleek suits and skirts of modern fashion, filed on in a sudden rush. Minutes later, the train pulled out again, the smoke from its engine rising up to envelop Lan, watering his murky orange eyes. The smell from it, the smell of burning, of fire, brought back sharp memories.
"Run Lan!" The headmaster had shouted, crouching in pain on the ground. The men in the fashionable brown coats and ominous white armbands kicked him, sending him on his back, and the larger, muscled one turned toward him, a grin on his face. The other children had already fled, the orphanage empty but for him-they weren't interested in anyone else. Lan had turned and ran into the hallway at the back, running for the playground, hoping he could jump the tall fence and escape into the city, when he heard a loud sound from behind, the sound of massive rush of air-
RrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSHHH
And a stream of fire filled the hall, the tiny hairs on his right arm singeing away. Screaming in terror, Lan had fallen to the ground. He turned around and watched as the Firebender approached, a tiny pilot flame held in the palm of his hand.
"Now, there's no need to make me get angry now kid." He said in a casual voice, as if they were simple acquaintances meeting on the street. "I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just gonna take you back to my boss. He'll be the one to decide if you get hurt." While he laughed at his own cleverness, Lan waited for him to get close, waiting for his only chance. He was no bender, and no fighter, but he had been taught some basic wushu, before he came to the orphanage-
He flung himself up with the palms of his hands and suddenly swung out a foot in a rapid kick. The brute pulled back, surprised but unalarmed. Lan snapped his foot back then shot it straight back out, aiming for the man's gut. Strike, strike, strike again, give your opponent no time for response. The old teachings rang in his head. He surprised himself with his own quickness, ferocity.
But it didn't matter.
The older man was bigger, stronger, and much more skilled. He blocked the first few strikes then sent Lan flying back with a light, effortless shove. Lan hit the ground like a sack of flour and felt his breath bounce out of him. Coughing, he rolled over, then felt a shoe come down hard on the small of his back.
"Hey, I said that's enough." The man sounded annoyed now. "Stop your struggling." From back at the entrance, Lan could hear his headmaster still begging the to let him go. He was shouting, asking for mercy, then suddenly there was a loud shot- a gun fired.
The headmaster went silent.
Everything froze in Lan's vision. He felt as if all the worlds colors had suddenly inverted. He could hear his heart throbbing in his chest. The foot on his back rose, then slammed down again., but he barely felt it. Something was rushing thru him, like a great wind inside his chest. It suddenly went cool, and he could has sworn his heart was freezing, then he felt a tremor rise up from the ground and ripple thru his whole body. Hundreds of years worth of images ran thru his mind in seconds.
Finally, he felt a searing heat rising from inside him.
There was a crack of light and the ground rose up and slammed the Firebender back. His partner, gun in hand, rounded the corner and stared in shock. Lan loomed before them, still just a scrawny kid, but there was a sense of looming presence within him now, and they felt as if they were staring up at a massive figure. His eyes went white, light shone from within them, and when he opened his mouth to speak, white light shone from it as well. Tiny jets of fire burned from hands, and he began to slowly turn in a graceful arc. As he did, the flames burst into huge balls of fire…
The next thing Lan knew, he was lying in the charred ruins of the orphanage, with only the vague memory of his actions. The two kidnappers had fled, spurred on by bursts of massive fire, and the orphanage had burned to the ground-what was left of it after the shockwave of compressed air had blown out the walls. Since that day, one week ago, Lan had skulked alone in the streets, hiding in shadow, living like a stray dog, watching every alley for the White Bands, trying not to think about what had happened, what he had done.
Despite his efforts, he could not close out the one word that continued to echo again and again in his mind, rising up out of the silence like a half-remembered song, too faint to sing and too insistent to ignore. One word.
Avatar…